Monday, January 27, 2014

In my quest for awesomely local cafes in Japan, I have the
good fortune of living a mere two hours from a city which is famous for its
eccentric locally grown cafes: Hiroshima.

While the city boasts many wonder options for cafes, my
favorite is a little joint a half hour form the city, called the BlueBird Café.

Nestled right in front of the JR Miyajimaguchi train
station, this gem alone is worth the half-hour, 400-yen train ride from
Hiroshima Station, and is definitely a must-see if you are going to Miyajima
Island.

\

The first floor of the café is a small shop selling quirky
goods. From the street, it almost doesn't even look like a café. The order
counter is tucked away in the corner just behind a huge display of homemade
pastries.

The menu boasts an extensive offers of unique lattes and
other espresso creations. After ordering guests walk up the narrow staircase to
the second floor, with desks, tables, and couches.

If the comfortable seats and laid-back atmosphere isn’t
enough to keep you lingering, you could probably spend an entire day just
exploring the decorations on the second floor. From the newspaper ceilings, to
the Japanese poetry books, to vintage children’s toys, there are certain a lot
of distractions to keep you occupied.

It is a cozy and quiet atmosphere.

The customers of this café tend to be pairs of women, or the
occasion small groups of teenagers will be quietly studying on the large main
table. However, there is one guest who I always look forward to seeing, the
owner’s cat, who is constantly occupying at least one of the cushions in the
café.

On this particular day, she even had her own blanket.

Now, let’s see how this place measures up on my checklist:

1.
Coffee and Espresso in the form of frothy and
sweetened lattes:

Definitely. In addition to the standard offerings of Hazelnut, Vanilla, etc, they even have seasonable specials line Honey or Peppermint.

2.
Wifi:

Check.

3.
Ordering at the counter and not have a waiter
check up on you:

Check. Since the counter is downstairs, you are out of sight of the staff. They only come upstairs to serve the drinks or pastries, other than that you are totally alone.

4.
Seating for singles:

Check. There are small tables designed for two, but it's not weird if one person sits there.

5.
The ability to bring your laptop and sit there
uninterrupted for at least two hours without feeling pressured to order
something else or leave:

Absolutely. This place is chill. It's easy to spend an entire day here relaxing, eating, and reading.

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Back in March I was in my condo in downtown Portland, sampling Devemdra Bandhardt’s album Mala
online through NPR. I had intended to download it, but somehow forgot to do so
until this past December.

I finally listened to the album for the first time while driving on
the highway to Kobe.

As I was speeding through traffic, going 120 km/h, I realized that I
never imagined I would be driving in Japan, let alone on the highway. And I
realized I was doing something I never thought I could do, never thought I
would do. I thought I knew my strengths and weaknesses. I thought I knew what I
could and couldn’t do. But doing something I never even considered doing opened
up a new realm of possibilities for me.

I am capable of doing more than I imagined.

It's a very empowering realization, and one that I could only have
reached as the result of living here in Japan. Living here challenged me in a
way that I would not have been able to challenge myself.

That’s the beauty of living
somewhere instead of traveling. When someone lives in a foreign country they are
forced to do things they don’t want to do. They are forced to be challenged. But
when someone travels to a foreign country, they can pay for comfort, they can
pay to have all their expectations met, they can pay not to be challenged.

But then they don’t get to listen to Mala while speeding down a
Japanese highway, driving a friend’s car.

Then they don’t get the rewards of doing something they never
considered doing.

My new mantra:

I want to challenged.

I want to be surprised.

I want to be uncomfortable.

I want to be forced to change my way of thinking, and my way of doing
things.